


The Stache

by JRW9699



Series: Artificial Heart [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-09 15:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19479178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JRW9699/pseuds/JRW9699
Summary: Or, How Kara Learnt to Love Oliver's Goatee





	The Stache

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a Jonathan Coulton song, a desire to see Stephen Amell with a proper Oliver Queen goatee, and Colin Donnell’s beard in 7x21

Oliver couldn’t help but grin as he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He’d been considering it for a while, ever since Sara had mentioned to him what he had looked like when The Legends had bumped into his future self. Regrettably, all Oliver could drag out of her was that one little detail, anything else could ‘damage the future beyond repair’. He really hated time travel. Still though, the idea had been rattling around in the back of his head for almost a year. Finally, he’d done it. The smile on his lips became even greater as Oliver turned and headed out the bathroom, carefully running a hand through the hair on his chin to smooth it out.

He’d timed it perfectly. Kara was just walking out the kitchen, a mug in hand, when he entered the living space of their apartment.

“No.”

So, not the reaction he’d expected. Still, he could work with it. After all, he’d managed to convince Kara to move into a penthouse apartment, he could do anything.

“Kara…”

“No.”

Kara didn’t give him more than that, simply breezing past him and taking a seat on the plush couch of the lounge. Stunned for a brief moment, Oliver turned to follow her, taking a seat in the armchair adjacent to her. After a few seconds of carefully studying his girlfriend, Oliver subconsciously stroking his chin as he did, he spoke.

“Why not?” He asked carefully.

Kara took a measured sip from her mug, adjusting herself in her seat a little, tucking one leg under the other. Turning to look at Oliver she seemed to observe him a little more intently, her eyes following the lines of his jaw before finally lifting to meet his own.

“You’ve got a pretty recognisable jawline at the best of times, Oliver.” Kara began, a note of admiration and attraction in her voice. “You seriously think people won’t notice that Oliver Queen and The Green Arrow suddenly share the exact same tastes in facial hair?”

“Says the woman who doesn’t even wear a mask?” Oliver shot back with a grin on his face.

“Kara Danvers wears glasses.” Kara fired back, her voice a little higher and defensive as she pointed at the items in question, currently sat on their coffee table. “It’s suspension of disbelief, people can’t believe plain old Kara is Supergirl.”

Oliver's gaze automatically ran over his girlfriend’s features at that, appreciatively taking her in. “There’s nothing plain about you, Kara.”

Her faint blush didn’t escape him. All those superpowers did nothing to hide simple emotion.

“It’s different with you, Oliver,” Kara began again after shaking off her blush. “You’ve been accused of being The Green Arrow how many times now? People won’t keep being this dumb forever.”

Lucky, that’s what he was, John liked to remind him of that a little too often. Lucky that a stray shot had never killed him, lucky that he always had some mad trick up his sleeve, lucky that they’d been able to push through every time someone had connected him to his alter ego. Lucky that he was still alive. He wouldn’t be lucky forever.

“Kara, it’ll be fine.” Oliver spoke, taking Kara’s free hand lightly in his own. “Trust me.”

Kara let out something of a disapproving sigh, before placing her mug down onto the table. Shifting herself so that she was facing Oliver, Kara raised her now free hand to his chin, her fingers lightly twirling the hair.

“Hmm, I could learn to like it.”

_XXX_

Kara struggled harder than she had expected to come to terms with Oliver's fresh taste in facial hair. It had been strange to adjust to just how different it made him look. Almost as long as she had known Oliver he had worn at least a stubble, but Kara had only ever seen his cheeks cleanly shaven in pictures from his time before the island. Now though, with the carefully maintained goatee, he looked different. Not necessarily a bad kind of different, but different nonetheless. Kissing him had been different too, that was the thing Kara struggled the most to adjust to. Her subtle attempts at getting him to shave had been completely futile.

Things only got worse when an invitation to Oliver's high school reunion arrived.

Oliver had shot the idea of attending down immediately, stating that it was a futile waste of time and that he would only end up wanting to leave almost as soon as he arrived. It had taken far too much convincing for Kara to get him to agree to go. Her cunning plan had been to enlist Laurel’s help, knowing that she was much better practiced in the art of manipulation. It had taken Laurel less than a day to convince Tommy to attend, and as a result Oliver was far more amicable to the idea. Given that the best friends had been kept unjustly busy by their jobs as the C.E.O.’s of the two largest companies in Star City, plus Oliver's night job as the Green Arrow, they hadn’t seen each other in a little over a month, making the reunion the perfect excuse for them to get together.

Kara didn’t realise how bad an idea that was until it was too late.

Starling Academy, Kara decided as the town car pulled up outside the school, looked less like an American High School and more like Hogwarts. She shouldn’t have been surprised, a school that catered solely to the elite of Star City was bound to be overtly grandiose. It didn’t take them long to find Tommy and Laurel once they went inside and Kara realised her mistake immediately.

Tommy had pulled a similar move to Oliver, his jawline covered with an immaculately maintained beard.

Kara’s eyes went a little wide when she realised, and Laurel caught her gaze with a defeated look. The two women shared a moment as their boyfriends pulled each other into a hug, both of them having lost to the men’s desire for facial hair. As the duo hugged, Laurel pointed at Oliver subtly and mouthed:

“ _really?”_

Kara just nodded with an eye roll.

“Dude, that is awesome.” Tommy grinned as they pulled out of the hug, pointing at the goatee.

“You don’t look terrible either.” Oliver matched Tommy’s smile.

The two men separated and returned to their girlfriends, linking arms with them. The quartet walked from the entrance hall towards the gym together, Tommy and Oliver side by side with Kara and Laurel either end of their little line. The four swapped small talk as they walked, catching up quickly before they were undoubtedly swamped by questions from classmates they hadn’t seen in decades. As they reached the doors to the gym, Tommy turned to Oliver with a smirk.

“Feels like prom night all over again, huh? We were double dating then too.”

Oliver let out a deep laugh. “Only difference is I can remember the pathetic excuse for facial hair you were rocking back then.”

Tommy teasingly jabbed Oliver's ribs with his elbow and grinned. “We shall never speak of my high school ‘stache again.”

Oliver paused for a moment, a wicked look coming over his features. Without saying a word, Oliver whipped out his phone and starting typing. Kara looked over his shoulder to see him firing off a message to Felicity.

_If you can find pictures of Tommy from our high school prom ASAP I’m giving you a week off_

A positively evil smirk planted on his lips, Oliver pocketed his phone and the two couples continued on their way into the gym. The quartet split up, promising to meet at the bar later to give them time to mingle and catch up with old friends. Oliver and Kara had barely gotten a chance to take two steps before Oliver's phone sounded out. Slipping the device from his pocket and unlocking it, Oliver burst out into laughter again. With a beaming smile, Oliver turned his phone for Kara to see. Open on the screen was a picture of Oliver and Tommy from their prom, both dressed in fine suits, Oliver with Laurel on his arm and Tommy with a redhead that Kara didn’t recognise. Ignoring the sight of her boyfriend with another woman on his arm – even if she knew they were nothing more than friends _now_ Kara still felt a little weird about seeing pictures of them from when they were together – Kara focused on Tommy. His upper lip was wrought with a spattering of wiry hairs, hardly enough to justify a moustache and looking entirely out of place on the then seventeen-year-old Tommy. Beneath it was a message;

_I’ll take that week off somewhere sunny boss, I think I can blackmail Tommy for a nice holiday with this_

Kara burst out with laughter, having to cover her mouth after realising quite how loud she had been. Looking up at Oliver, Kara found him fixing her with an adoring gaze. Pursing her lips, Kara reached a hand up and lightly stroked Oliver’s jaw before grazing her fingers along the length of his goatee.

“Maybe this isn’t so bad after all.”


End file.
